Jan 2, 2012 - Journée au ralenti - Direction...nord de la Thaïlande

Départ en train de Bangkok ce matin vers Ayuthaya (ancienne capitale de la Thaïlande situé à environ 75km de Bangkok). Étant néophyte du système de train, nous nous sommes retrouvés en fin de train dans un wagon passé-date non-climatisé. Heureusement, nous sommes partis tôt et la chaleur était tolérable avec les fenêtres ouvertes (plus difficile lors des divers arrêts du train). Nos compagnons de voyage incluaient un saoulon qui se remettait des fêtes du jour de l'an et qui nous a quêter des sous, parlait fort et marchait tout croche, un...

Jan 7, 2011 - Thailand Explorer: Bangkok and Ayuthaya!

And so to Thailand. Flew to Bangkok on January 7th and arrived in the very busy Khoa San Road to meet my travelling companion for this leg of my Thailand Explorer trip. (Hi Debbie! hope home is not too cold!?) This journey was two weeks of travel through parts of Thailand and then two weeks vounteering in Surin, Central Thailand, teaching English.First though, the touring holiday. Bangkok: The hotel on Khoa San Road had pristine white sheets...such a stark contrast from Nepal...took my breath away! Great to meet my travelling companion and...

Dec 16, 2010 - Ayuthaya - Kanchanaburi

Today we left our lovely hotel resort in Sukhothai. We had nice relaxing swim in the pool when we got here yesterday afternoon with a nice cold G&T! An hour outside Sukhothai we stopped at Wat Srisanphet, “one of the most beautiful temples in Thailand” It was quite lovely with lots of people making special offerings including pigs heads. We carried on south to Ayutthaya, the second royal city once upon a time after Sukhothai. Ayutthaya was laid waste by the Burmese in the 18th Century. The city was burned, Buddha’s statues were destroyed...

Jul 15, 2010 - Ayutthaya

Fuer eine Nacht waren wir in der historischen Stadt Ayutthaya, die seit 1991 zum Unesco Weltkulturerbe gehoert. Ueber eine grosse Flaecher erstrecken sich diverse (mehr oder weniger erhaltene und restaurierte) Ruinen von unzaehligen Tempeln. Nach dem Chaos in Bangkok war es ganz angenehm in eine wesentlich kleinere und ueberschaubarere Stadt zu kommen (nur 83.000 Einw.), die wir gemuetlich mit dem Fahrrad erkunden konnten. Nach einem kurzen Schloferle in unserem Bungalow, der im Vergleich zu unserer Unterkunft in Bangkok (wo mich...

May 29, 2010 - Ayuthaya and Kanchanaburi

A notre arrivée ce matin je me suis promène plus d'une heure ds le marché local ... J étais le seul blanc, un dépaysement total. Je le suis même permis de manger de la nourriture un peu partout sans même demander ce que c était. Encore une fois, la chaleur est accablante même a 8:00 le matin. Ayuthaya est une ville de 200k habitants et était la capitale de Siam (ancien nom de la Thaïlande qui porte ce nom depuis 75 ans). Cette ville était le berceau de l Asie du 14ie au mid 18 ie siècles. La Birmanie a détruit la ville totalement en 1750,...

Apr 6, 2010 - Ayuthaya

Ook hier helaas geen foto's van onze 'grote' camera... Na weer 6 uur treinen, nu zonder airco (warm!) want die was stuk, komen we aan in Ayutthaya. 's Avonds eten en drinken we wat bij een cafe met live muziek: een thaise man met gitaar die coverliedjes speelt, leuk! Ro is na een paar biertjes een stuk beter in het kaartspel zeenuwen dan Lau, voor het eerst, onvoorstelbaar! De volgende dag huren we wederom een fiets en fietsen we de oude stad van Ayutthaya door. 's Middags liggen we aan het zwembad met nog zo'n 12 Nederlanders. We horen ze...

Dec 12, 2009 - Ayuthaya - Dec 12

December 12, 2009 We had originally planned to do a day trip to Ayutthaya but given we had done most of the stuff we wanted to in Bangkok we decided to spend a night in Ayutthaya. We got up fairly early and got breakfast at the hotel and then got a taxi to the station. The first taxi driver we spoke to wanted to know where we were getting the train to and offered to drive us there, complete with big grin on his face. Considering a trip in a taxi around the city costs around 50-100 Baht and Ayutthaya is about 70km outside the city, we...

Dec 4, 2009 - The Ruins and the Kings Bday!

We arrived in Ayutthaya, Thailand old capital, via two speedy local buses. The first bus from Loei to Phitsanulok had to have been our fastest bus yet. We have taken tons of local buses, many of which we were sure weren't going to get us to our destination. This bus didn't look any nicer than any of the others, but let me tell you, it was turbo charged. Our driver was passing cars and trucks left and right, even on some of the hills. Instead of arriving at our destination 30 minutes to 1 hours behind schedule, like we have been...

Aug 15, 2009 - Ayuthaya

Llegué ayer en la noche, con viaje muy corto, a la capital del segundo reino tai: el reino de Ayuthaya (1350-1767). Toda la mañana estuve bicicleteando en la zona histórica de esta ciudad que fue famosa por su comercio internacional, es sitio patrimonio mundial (UNESCO) de hecho. Mi bicicleta (alquilada) me llevó a los wats Phra Si Sanphet y Phra Mahathat que son famosos por sus estupas; igualmente al Chai Wattanaram fuera de la isla central. No obstante manifestamos que las ruinas no son gran maravilla, e incluso recomendaríamos pasarlas...

Feb 14, 2009 - Ayuthaya

14 February Daytrip by train and bus to Ayuthaya, 75 km north of Bangkok. Ayuthaya was once the capital of Thailand. But when a Burmese army invaded and plundered Ayuthaya for some 500 years ago, the Thaïs decided to move the capital to Bangkok. Today’s Ayuthaya don’t offer the tourist specially much to see and do except to watch temple ruins. I think that I explored one and a half temple, when I decided to quit, then I already seen what come for.

Jan 19, 2009 - Ayutthaya - Lop Buri

Today was Temple Ruins Day! I took a photo of all the names of the Temples so I knew which one they'd be - and a picture tells a thousand words so when they are posted up, you can check them out. What I can tell you is that there are LOTS of the them. And all but one ruin has all the Budda heads removed. We thought it may have being when the city was taken over and burnt 250 years ago, but the literature says that they were decapitated before they were protected sights by people and now are spread out through Asia in private collections....

Jan 18, 2009 - Bangkok - Ayuttaya

Hi Guys! Today was the day with palaces, Budda's, tour guides, photos and a very long history as to why the buildings are the way they are...! Our first adventure of the day was finding a carpark for our "mini-van" (which by the way is top of the range Izusu MU-7, complete with a DVD player amongst other things). The first people park in the designated angled parks. When those parks are full, the vehicles are then parked parallel behind those vehicles - left out of gear and the hand brake off. If an angled-parked car wants to get out, the...